One Statistic Shows How Severely Wal-Mart Is Lagging Behind Amazon

Wal-Mart is building a series of fulfillment centers for online orders as part of its e-commerce initiative.

But one statistic shows just how much Wal-Mart is lagging behind Amazon online, according to Shelly Banjo at the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon's online sales were $61 billion last year, while Wal-Mart's sales were just $7.7 billion, Banjo reports, citing trade publication Internet Retailer.

Even though Wal-Mart expects e-commerce sales to reach $10 billion this year, Amazon is still dominating market share.

Walmart has tried aggressive new initiatives, including recruiting Silicon Valley talent, acquiring start-ups, pouring money into its mobile app and improving its search engine.

Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said that not moving more quickly into e-commerce was his biggest regret at the company:

"When I look back, I wish we had moved faster. We've proven ourselves to be successful in many areas, and I simply wonder why we didn't move more quickly. This is especially true for e-commerce. Right now we're making tremendous progress, and the business is moving, but we should have moved faster to expand this area."

Wal-Mart's total sales last year were $444 billion last year.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.